Lloyds is offering a 50% refund on transfer fees on its Platinum balance transfer credit card.
Lloyds TSB’s Platinum Credit Card is the new market leader for cheap balance transfers after the lender unveiled a 50% balance transfer fee refund.
Transfer a credit card balance onto the card before the 16th November and you’ll not only enjoy 15 months of 0% interest on that balance, but you’ll also get half of the transfer fee back.
That means the card now comes with an effective balance transfer fee of 1.5% of the sum transferred.
How the refund works
Transfers onto the Lloyds TSB Platinum will need to be made by the 16th November, which means you will need to have applied for the card by the 22nd October.
The balance transferred needs to be £1,500 or more and must come from a non-Lloyds card.
When you make the transfer you’ll need to pay the full 3% fee. Half of this will then be refunded within 30 days of the balance transfer completing.
How it compares
In the balance transfer credit card market most of the competition at the moment is focused on offering the longest possible interest-free period. This has been particularly true this week, with Tesco ramping up its offering to 22 months at 0% while Barclaycard has gone one better and moved to 23 months.
That means that credit cards which come with a small balance transfer fee are few and far between.
Indeed, there are only a couple of real rivals. The first is the Fluid card. This card also offers 15 months of 0% interest and boasts a 1.5% fee. It comes with a slightly lower representative APR than the Lloyds card (15.9% compared to 17.9%) and a slightly longer 0% period on purchases (five months compared to three months).
Perhaps the biggest downside to the Fluid card is that it is powered by MBNA. That means there is a far wider range of cards that you can’t move your balance over from, including any Virgin Money credit cards.
Another rival is the Platinum Low BT card from Barclaycard which offers 16 months free of interest, with a slightly higher transfer fee of 1.6%. After that it has a representative APR of 18.9%, while like the Lloyds card, purchases are free of interest for three months.
The difference a fee makes
The table below outlines the transfer fee you’ll have to pay for moving debts of various sizes onto either the Lloyds Platinum or the Fluid card, compared to the cards offering the longest 0% periods.
|
Card |
Transfer fee |
0% period |
Fee paid on £2,500 balance transfer |
Fee paid on £5,000 balance transfer |
Fee paid on £7,500 balance transfer |
Fee paid on £10,000 balance transfer |
|
1.5% |
15 months |
£37.50 |
£75 |
£112.50 |
£150 |
|
|
1.5% |
15 months |
£37.50 |
£75 |
£112.50 |
£150 |
|
|
Barclaycard Platinum Low Fee |
1.6% |
16 months |
£40 |
£80 |
£120 |
£160 |
|
2.8% |
23 months |
£70 |
£140 |
£210 |
£280 |
|
|
HSBC Visa* |
3.3% |
23 months |
£82.50 |
£165 |
£247.50 |
£330 |
|
2.6% |
22 months |
£65 |
£130 |
£195 |
£260 |
|
|
2.9% |
22 months |
£72.50 |
£145 |
£217.50 |
£290 |
|
|
3.2% |
22 months |
£80 |
£160 |
£240 |
£320 |
|
|
3.2% |
22 months |
£80 |
£160 |
£240 |
£320 |
|
|
3.5% |
22 months |
£87.50 |
£175 |
£175 |
£350 |
|
|
2.99% |
21 months |
£74.75 |
£149.50 |
£224.25 |
£299 |
|
|
3.1% |
20 months |
£77.50 |
£155 |
£232.50 |
£310 |
*Only available to existing customers
As you can see, if you only need 15 or 16 months in order to pay off your debts you are far better off going with either the Lloyds card, the Fluid card or the Barclaycard than one of the cards offering 20 months or more before you start being charged interest.
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Compare low fee balance transfer credit cards
Barclaycard launches 23 month interest-free balance transfer credit card
Tesco increases Clubcard card balance transfer period